PELARGONIUM verbenaefolium.
Vervain-leaved Storlc s-hill.
P. verbenaefolium, umbellis 3-5 florisve, foliis ternatis
pilosis scabris: foliolis sessilibus pinnatifido-incisis
serratis acutis, petalis inferis linearibus patentibus,
calycibus reflexis, tubo nectarifero calyce breviori.
Stem shrubby, branching; branches rigid, flexuose,
thickly clothed with soft villous spreading unequal
hairs. Leaves ternate, rough and hairy on both sides :
leaflets sessile, spreading, acute; lower ones often
bifid, upper one pinnatifid or deeply cut and sharply
sawed. Petioles flattened on the upper side and convex
on the lower, dilated at the base, thickly clothed
with soft villous hairs, as are the peduncles and calyx.
Stipules broadly lanceolate, concave, taper-pointed, and
ciliate. Peduncles growing in a kind of panicle, from
3 to 5 flowered. Involucre of 5 or 6 very narrow sharp-
pointed fringed bractes. Pedicles slender, unequal in
length. Calyx 5-cleft, segments lanceolate, acute, reflexed.
Nectariferous tube unequal in length, shorter
than the calyx, flattened and furrowed on each side.
Petals 5, the two upper ones broadly ligulate, of a
pale lilac, marked on each side near the base with a
purple forked spot, and several other little spots below
i t ; lower petals linear, spreading, of a lighter colour.
Filaments 10, united at the base, only five bearing anthers.
Style red, hairy on the lower and smooth on
the upper part. Stigmas 5, red, reflexed.
This curious plant is a hybrid production, and appears
to be intermediate between P. graveolens and P.
ternatum. The habit is nearest the former, and the
flowers resemble the latter; the leaves are as near
v o t . II. o